Rupert Murdoch has apologised to victims of the criminal phone hacking scandal that has embroiled News Corporation as two of his senior executives quit the embattled empire.

Dow Jones chief and former News International boss Les Hinton, along with Murdoch darling and the current head of News International, Rebekah Brooks, have resigned as the scandal worsens.

Moving to get ahead of a scandal washing over his global business, the US-based magnate made a personal apology to the parents of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler in what appeared to be an admission that the News of the World, then edited by Ms Brooks, had in 2002 hacked into the voicemails of their missing daughter.

Mr Murdoch spoke briefly to the media after the meeting.

"As the founder of the company, I was appalled to find out what had happened and I apologised," he said. "I have nothing further to say."

Police are investigating whether someone engaged by the News of the World not only listened in to the missing teenager's voicemail, but deleted some messages to make room for more.

That misled police hunting for her and gave her parents false hope that their daughter might still be alive.

"He apologised many times. I don't think somebody could have held their head in their hands so many times to say that they were sorry," said Mark Lewis, the Dowler family lawyer.

"He said the word sorry, that this should not have happened, that this was not the standard set by his father, a respected journalist, not the standard set by his mother, and that this was the proper thing that should be done, not what was done in the name of the News of the World."

Mr Lewis says the family will be pursuing compensation, but today was not the day for that.

"This wasn't about money this meeting, money was not discussed and there is no, no question of any discussion that would have tainted the meeting which was a heartfelt and what seemed to be a very sincere apology," he said.

A direct apology from Mr Murdoch, who has been summoned to answer questions before a parliamentary committee, will be carried in all national newspapers this weekend under the headline "We are sorry".

The text was released by News International, the British newspaper unit now headed by Tom Mockridge, a News Corp veteran moved in from Italian television.

"The News of the World was in the business of holding others to account. It failed when it came to itself," Mr Murdoch wrote in the article, which was signed off "Sincerely, Rupert Murdoch".

"We are sorry for the serious wrongdoing that occurred. We are deeply sorry for the hurt suffered by the individuals affected," he added.

"In the coming days, as we take further concrete steps to resolve these issues and make amends for the damage they have caused, you will hear more from us."

Brooks gone

The revelations this month of the targeting of victims of crime rather than, as previously alleged, the rich, famous and powerful, was the catalyst for a crisis that has engulfed the company Mr Murdoch has built up over decades.

Claims the paper hacked the voicemail of Ms Dowler and the families of dead soldiers has forced Mr Murdoch to close the News of the World, Britain's best-selling Sunday paper and drop a $12 billion plan to buy full control of highly profitable pay-TV operator BSkyB.

It has also raised questions from shareholders over his family's management of the business. And, following the arrest of nine journalists so far since police relaunched inquiries in January, it raised the possibility of legal action against yet more senior executives of the multinational corporation.

Ms Brooks resigned as chief executive of News International on Friday, yielding to political and investor pressure over the scandal that has affected News Corp outlets across the world.

The former editor of the News of the World and of flagship daily tabloid The Sun, was a favourite of Mr Murdoch, who described her as his first priority when he flew in to London this week to manage the crisis.

In her place, he named a trusted News Corp veteran, New Zealander Mockridge, who has spent the past eight years running the group's Sky Italia television interests in Italy.

British prime minister David Cameron is under fire for his personal relationship with Ms Brooks, as well as for hiring another ex-editor of the News of the World as his spokesman.

Mr Cameron suffered another blow on Friday when an aide said he had hosted a visit from his former spokesman Andy Coulson in March this year - two months after Coulson quit his job.

He has now launched a judicial inquiry into the phone-hacking affair, which also includes allegations of corrupt payments to police by journalists.

Mr Murdoch, a US citizen, has been courted for decades by Britain's political elite as a kingmaker who could influence voters to shift left or right.

He now faces a showdown with British parliament on Tuesday when politicians on the media committee grill him, his son James, and Ms Brooks. During an angry debate this week, one legislator called him a "cancer on the body politic".

'Rogue reporter' defence dropped

Ms Brooks, whose youth, mane of red hair and former marriage to a soap opera star have helped give her a high public profile in Britain, said in a message to staff: "My desire to remain on the bridge has made me a focal point of the debate. This is now detracting attention from all our honest endeavours to fix the problems of the past."

"Therefore I have given Rupert and James Murdoch my resignation. While it has been a subject of discussion, this time my resignation has been accepted."

She said she felt "a deep sense of responsibility for the people we have hurt."

"I want to reiterate how sorry I am for what we now know to have taken place," she added.

Tom Watson, a Labour MP who has led the campaign against the News International papers, said Brooks' departure could put James Murdoch, his father's heir apparent, in the spotlight.

"Because she has taken so long to go I think the focus will very swiftly move on to James Murdoch now and what he knew and what he was involved in," Mr Watson told Sky News.

Professor Martin Innes, a leading criminologist based at Cardiff University, said Ms Brooks would certainly be questioned by police.

"In terms of managing the whole furore around it, if you actually went to an arrest phase, that will ramp up the story yet again and increases the pressure on the investigation," he said.

"So I would imagine the next step she will be viewed as a witness and they will want to go and talk to some other people as well to try and look at how does her account relate to things that other people say."

A week ago, Ms Brooks had told News of the World staff, who were sacked with the paper's closure, that she would remain to try and resolve the company's problems - causing anger among many of the 200 being laid off. Some accused Murdoch of sacrificing their jobs to save hers.

Ms Brooks could receive a seven-figure payoff but that is likely to come with a strict agreement she keeps her silence, legal experts and a former executive say.